Lodgers' Tax Advisory Board - Regular Meeting

So I will just call us to order. And, hopefully, everybody has a copy of the agenda in front of you, and I will ask for approval of today's agenda.

Like to make a motion to approve the agenda.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Alright. So so moved. The next agenda item is minutes from the largest tax advisory boarding that we had last month on January 21. Hopefully, everybody saw those and read through them. Does anybody have any questions on those or any changes they wanna make? Go ahead, Kevin.

I noticed one thing in there. Let's see. On page two, it was there's a discussion that talked about the, talked about only during the report, Felton noted only county employers and their contractors can get direct access to programs like Datafy. I think that's incorrect. I'm not sure who who county employers would be, but the, so I listened to the minutes, and what was really said was that, it really didn't talk about county employers.

So, oh, here it is. It says, Ellen said that access to programs only for ourselves and the contractor, so that would be more accurate, way to put that. I don't think it was meant to say employers.

I think that was a typo. I think I was trying to say employees, but I can update that if if that's needed.

Yeah. Please do. You re again, I I went ahead and listened because that confused me a little, and it really wasn't a discussion of employees. It just said ourselves and the contractors. So I'm guessing what you were thinking was ourselves being employees, but, that certainly wasn't clear to me. So

Alright. So Ellen said she'd go ahead and make that change

and move to approve as revised.

Do I have a second? I'll second that. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Dana.

That's it.

Oh, I didn't hear you. Okay. Any opposed? Alright. So if Ellen can just do that for us, we'd appreciate.

You're fine. Alright. Now I see that we have a lodgers text code presentation.

Provided there's no public comment for items on on

the agenda. Sorry. I didn't see that part. Thank you, Ellen. Is there any public comment for items not on the agenda?

Alright. No. Alright. I'll turn it over to Ellen.

Awesome. Thank you. So part of the reason I wanted to kinda go over the code and present it as a whole was I know we had some questions about specifically what the roles and responsibilities were surrounding LTAP. So I wanted to pull this directly from our code and kinda read it to you. I am gonna zoom in a little, just to help everybody and their eyes on this one.

So, specifically, the lodgers tax advisory board, in article, six, the purpose is that a lodgers tax advisory board is established to advise the county manager and council on the expenditure of funds authorized by NMSA nineteen seventy eight three thirty eight twenty two for advertising, publicizing, and promoting tourist attractions and facilities in and around the county. The membership in terms and qualifications with that, which I think all of you probably went over as you were interviewed for your roles, is that it was established and its members should be appointed in accordance with the code. Only the member representing the general public must be a resident of the county. The terms of each member of the Lodger Stacks advisory board should be three years, provided that's a new term, not one that we're filling because of a vacancy beginning on December 2 and ending on December 1. The duties and responsibilities, which I think is kinda the meat and the potatoes that everyone was really looking for here, is that a lodgers tax advisory board shall serve in an advisory capacity to the county council and shall have the following functions, responsibilities, and duties.

One, provide citizen input to staff and council on ways and means for improving the county's use of lodgers tax funds. For this purpose, the board shall gather public input in ways appropriate to the circumstances, which may include public hearings dedicated to specific topics. Nope. Thank you. And two, review and act upon all Lodgers tax related matters submitted to the board by counsel.

So that's kind of, what what your roles and responsibilities are, those two things provided right there. So you're really providing some input and guidance on how we're utilizing that by advising. In addition to that, I also included what Lodgers tax is as a whole. That's more for reference. I'm not gonna go in into detail.

You can read that on your own. But the main part is to understand that the tax was borne by transient persons using commercial lodging accommodation, which tax will provide revenues for advertising the community, improving its services, financing new facilities, attracting conferences, conventions, and meetings of commercial, cultural, educational, and social origin to the county and of the state. So I'm not gonna read through all of this because it's quite a lot. Get past this. Still going.

Sorry. And then the next thing I included here was what we had utilized last month, and we kinda went over with what those funds actually look like. Again, sorry. This is a large spreadsheet that comes up very small for our people in the audience here today. But as a whole, a lot of the money is kind of tied up right now in contractual services, which are multi multiyear things.

And in addition to that, the other things are administration, which is situations if we get audited, things like that, printing and binding, which is all those brochures and things of that nature, and then supplies. So, for example, visitor center reservation, renovations, and that sort of thing. And so I just wanted to point that out to kinda help you understand that before we get into some other things like the work plan so you can understand kinda what the boundaries are on what you're advising and how those funds are currently being spent and noting that some of them are multiyear contracts that we can't really change what those parameters are at this moment. Does anybody have any questions about that?

I'd like to ask a question. Thank you for doing all of that, Ellen. But so one of the things that it's saying is for us to gather that information from the county. And one of the things that we talked about in the past is possibly doing a community meeting. Is that something that we could work towards planning and see if we can get some of the input from the community businesses?

So to do something like that, when we get to the part about the work plan, that would be considered a working group. That's that not all of you have to be in that working group. It could just be one of you that kinda helps lead that charge to have meetings with the public and the community, that sort of thing, to either get messages out about upcoming events or things we'd like to be marketing more, or on the other side of it, to to get some guidance and some thoughts from our community members on what they would like to see more of. But that would be a working group, so that's not currently under the parameters of what you do as a member of Lodgerstack's advisory board.

Okay. Thanks.

I have a comment. The you know, as I read this, this is all fine. I mean, this is all things that I understood, but I don't really read this to, in any way, limit the what the council may decide to ask LTAP to be working on under its purview. I know there's some confusion about this. I listened to I don't know if any of the rest of you did.

I listened to the county council meeting last week on Tuesday, and it was kind of a confused conversation about what was the purview of the lodgers tax board. I know the staff is viewing this that somehow what's in the ordinance is some kind of limitation. I don't see anything in there that says it is a limitation in any way on what the council can ask the largest tax board to be involved with, number one. And so, I'll actually share a little later in our announcements area, but I wanted to just communicate some of the, other information that, I've been working on on this and with counsel communication with counsel. But I think one of the things we really need to think about and want to do is if is to ask the council to prop to make clarification, to tell us what they clearly want us to do, whether it's just strictly limited to what's said in the code or whether they are looking for a broader range of of input from us.

All of that said, I don't know how we can possibly fulfill advising about use of lodgers tax funds without a good handle on the larger questions of where do they fit into the whole scheme of visitor and tourism activities. So regardless of whether we're whether the only thing the council wants to hear from us is how should you we use the lodgers tax funds, which I don't think is clearly the case or has been established as the case. I think it's incumbent on us to really understand the big picture in order to provide sensible advice even on just use of the of lodgers tax funds.

Okay. I have a question on that because the state does restrict how lodgers tax funds can be used. So the state in their document, because I printed that part off

Mhmm.

Does direct that marketing funds have to be market at least from what I saw in the state document, and we don't have this on the screen, at least half the funds that we've taken on the auditors text have to be used for marketing. They can't be used for something else.

Absolutely. If we were to recommend to the council to use this to put up swing sets in White Rock, that would be totally inappropriate. And I don't think there's any suggestion that by understanding the context of visitation and tourism programs of the county that in some way we would be recommending any misuse of lodgers tax funds. So we are absolutely bound by, recommending appropriate uses as I see it, and you're exactly right.

Could the attorneys provide us Could the attorneys provide us with some guidance on the parameters of what the committee can and can't do as far as, like, you know, special requests from counsel, or could you give us some some guidance on that? Sure. Hello.

My name is Katie Twitz. I'm the deputy county attorney, and with me is Larissa Breen, the assistant county attorney. So with regard to the state law, which governs LTAC boards, and we have our own ordinance, the state law does say that the expenditure of funds is to be for advertising, publicizing, and promoting tourist attractions and facilities in their respective county. As it relates to the ordinance, which is already on the screening we discussed, the way that this is written is that there's there's two ways. Right?

And and mister Holsapple is correct. In the second way, which is what the whatever review and act upon lodgers tax related matters submitted to the board by council. So if council is directing you guys to do something with the lodgers tax, that's absolutely within your purview. And then the first one is you, gathering citizen input on providing advice and recommendations to counsel on how to use those lodgers tax funds, which, again, go back to the state law for advertising, publicizing, and promoting tourist attractions and facilities in their respective communities or county. I'm sorry.

So, you know, how that is done is up to the board to determine, you know, what type of citizen input you're going to get and recommend to counsel on that and how to improve the use of the lodgers tax, but that that's within the bird's per the board's purview of how to do that. But the parameters are set by how the funds can be used in state law and then the parameters in chapter eight that you gather ways and means of citizen input to then make recommendations to counsel on how to spend those tax those taxes in the way the state law says.

Thank you. Is there any other questions?

Okay. If there are no other questions, then I think we move on to, Kevin presenting on his business questionnaire results.

Yeah. Thank thank you for putting this on the agenda. I had distributed at the last meeting in paper the, what had been received at the time of the last meeting, some additional responses have come in. So I I sent out an update today so that you would have the latest. They didn't they didn't really dramatically change anything or or change anything too much.

Really, this kinda goes to what we were just talking about. I think one of my, premises coming into this role on this board is that we really need to understand, as much as we can about how local businesses view visitation and tourism as something that can help them, in their businesses, help them succeed, and help the community. And so I felt like I went and met with, people at LACDC and and asked, and I could not find anything where there's been any, anyone's kind of asked in a structured way. So I felt like I needed to fill in that gap for me, and I wanted to then share with you what what I've learned so far in hopes that you might be also interested in in could make use of this. I won't say more than that because I've really distributed it.

There's a page called key takeaways that really are the things that, are suggested by the by the responses today. It remains an open questionnaire, so, hopefully, we'll continue to, have additional businesses weigh in and and say what they think. It's actually given me some pretty good leads for people who say they are interested in this topic and have a desire to potentially get more involved. So that that that's pretty much what I had.

Does anyone have any questions on this?

I guess the only question I would have is in the future, do you think that we could be like, in instead of just putting something out like this, that maybe there could be some input before it goes out? And, also, is it something that maybe some of the rest of us could get involved with? You know, I don't mind going door to door either, but, you know, it just seems like if we're kinda pushing out there for what this is about, it would be nice for us to have a little bit of a of a upfront, maybe information and maybe, suggestion and the opportunity to help gather the information.

Yeah. I would welcome that. The so so you know, this was never represented as an LTAP questionnaire or is really from my personal initiative. I would welcome it. One of the issues is is our whole process.

We're kinda getting started again here as a lodgers tax board, and our conversations kind of are are once a month and are often under timed arrest and things like that. So it's been very difficult to even communicate and know how how to engage with each other, but I would totally welcome that. And to me, this very questionnaire, could be the basis for doing something, as the LTAP and and building upon if that were the desire of the group.

So I have a question on that. Does that mean we just went over what LTAB is tasked to do. That would mean that the things that Kevin and Dana are talking about would need to happen under working group. Am I correct?

That is correct. And, we'll get into this in a couple minutes. But that working group decision and how you want to go about that, a working group can be created at any time. It does not need to be during this work plan today if it's something you want to discuss further. Thanks, Holland.

Hi. I'm Linda Madison. I'm one of the deputy county managers, and I'll just, so say that the lodgers tax as a board as a whole could take on an initiative such as you're describing. It doesn't have to be a working group. That's not the only way to take this on. I think the working group structure is a method that other boards have found to be useful in kind of going off and doing work independent of the board itself. So I just wanna kinda confirm that.

Okay. So does anyone have any questions they wanna talk about with the questionnaire responses, or shall we just move on to work plan?

I'm I'm totally open to any questions. I I was told to keep it brief. I

think since some of this applies to how we wanna work the the work plan moving forward, we should move on to the work plan and and work through that and then decide how we want to work through some of the things we've already discussed.

Alright. So we will get into the recommended action. But because the work plan does need to go to counsel, and I will be very candid in saying I found out about half an hour ago that some of counsel already reviewed this drafted version in a meeting they had on Friday because they were trying to be on top of all the many work plans they have. There were three counselors that reviewed the version that is in here today. But because this has to get approved and then go through approved by you as LTAP and then go through the motions to go to counsel in the next week.

The way that I have this written so you guys aren't confused with how this recommended action is is that we'll go over it. We'll work through it today and come to an agreement on what that work plan looks like. And then because Jen is currently serving as chair during this meeting, I will get that finalized version to her, and she will approve it on behalf of the group. That way, it can get to counsel in time. Does that make sense?

Okay. It's a little different, but it's it's the way we figured would work for this. So I do wanna say with some of this compared to what we were looking at last month when we were discussing this a bit, there were some changes just strictly based around, what it currently reads that lodgers tax is and what you do. So, really, because of that, I'll kind of give you, where we're at, and then give you insight that I just received, from parts of counsel on a couple of these matters. And then we can discuss what you guys think, what you'd like to include, not include, that sort of thing.

So currently, I'm gonna skip ahead to two point o since I think I guess we'll start by I'll start I'll start at the beginning and ask, with the one point o section, are there any changes you felt needed to be made as a board? So that would be top five activities. Last year, we pretty much approved the work plan, and then we did not have time to really do anything else. And then the top five accomplishments, the outdoor bathroom pavilion project, the New Mexico true grant increase, updating tourism brochures, and working with community services. Those are the big ones.

And then lessons learned is that we just need to be organized and succinct. And having forum always helps. Yes, Kevin.

The the only question I would have is the in the accomplishments, were those really things of the lodgers tax board, or were they the the I'd you know? Because as I understood it, the lodgers tax board only met once in so I I don't know. I don't know how if the if what's in this is intended to mean, but I it didn't seem like these were things the lodgers tax board did.

So I considered them accomplishments because we utilize lodgers tax funds for those purposes from my understanding. So that's why I included them even though you did not meet very often.

So and I think we did meet early in the year, and we talked about the fact that we needed to update the tourism brochures, update the way finding signs in the Fuller Lodge area, and maybe look at changing the activity guide. I think we're still looking at changing the activity guide because my we're looking at making

it small.

Currently draft in progress regarding the activity guide. It's not toward the point of reviewal internal or anything like that even externally yet. I'm on the final stages of that before we get further. But, yes, it will be smaller in size. I believe it's eight and a half by five and a half inches. So definitely a much smaller size that is easier to be put in a lot of the kiosks that exist across the state.

So did did the lodgers tax board make any recommendations to the county council last year?

So we didn't make those recommendations to the county council because we hadn't had an opportunity to get quorum to actually approve our work plan, I think. But we did talk about those are the things when we were working on the work plan that we wanted to see done. And I think that was at a February meeting of last year when we met. I think we met in January and February. I'm not sure exactly,

but but I I thought thought that's that's what we did. And those were the things that we talked about at the time. Yes. So you did create and approve a work plan last year, and then you were unable to make quorum after that.

One one of the reason it's fine with me. One of the reasons I I bring it up is it's a great chance to think ahead to next year. And because as we're doing this work plan for this year to think, boy, what would we like to be saying in that area of top five accomplishments next year?

Right. Agreed, Kevin. Okay.

Sorry. Taking notes at the same time. Let's see. So that that brings us to the two point o section, which is the current work calendar year work plan. So what we currently have listed was continue oversight and reporting of lodgers tax expenditures as well as promote tourism by enhancing amenities, utilizing indoor and outdoor facilities, and encouraging overnight stays.

I know there was lots of, comments and input a little bit when we spoke about this previously, but something that we did get something to consider, by counselors, by chair Cole, counselors Rieger and Reedy, was considering reviewing the tourism plan for any other activities we might also, list on this. And I guess I'll kinda leave it open for discussion with that between the members of the board, what you feel might be worth considering adding here.

So are you talking about, like, the recent tournaments that we had for hockey and things like that, those types of things that will be coming up throughout the year?

Yeah. I think that would be a way to consider it is ways to again, that goes back to that could be an initiative with the businesses or a working group depending on how you want to kind of frame that around getting the word out about events and helping be that boots on the ground effort with our business community.

I agree with that, and I wouldn't mind helping with that.

I have one thought in here, and and this was actually a recommendation I sent to counselor's hand and, as our liaison and and Gregor as our immediate past year, liaison. And that one of these could absolutely be helpful to us in clarifying what we were talking about earlier. If it if it said something like, we want you to, advise us not only on the statutory requirements, but also on content updates and matters related to implementation of the tourism strategic plan. I think that would clarify what that my understanding is, that at least several of the county councilors look to are looking to the LTAP for.

So I guess what you're saying I'm trying to think

Let me let me read let me read again. This was actually a recommendation I sent to counselor Hand and Reger to try to Yeah. Make this clear. What I said to them is I recommend the council clarify the purview of LTAP to include not only the statutory requirements, but also to advise the county on the content updates in matters related to implementation of the tourism strategic plan. So if that were added as an item, that one of the thing that one of the things the these items say, list any things that the council is asking us to do.

Right. And if I I would love if they would ask us to advise them not only on statutory requirements of of lodgers tax, but also advise on content updates and matters relating to implementation of the tourism strategic plan. So that kinda gets the makes it clear that they want us not just to say, how's how do you want how should you spend lodgers tax funds? But they want us to really look at tourism big picture and be providing I ideas, recommendations, things that could help them do their

job. Okay. Chair. Can I just

Yes? I just wanna clarify. A working group of council has reviewed this draft plan of yours. And what Ellen indicated was that their suggestion for this section so, again, this is coming from this working group of councilors is review tourism strategic plan for for other activities. So to me that, you know, they are reviewing it with counsel's eyes.

So I know she says it's a suggestion. I really do feel like that's what they wanna add. That's what they're asking you to do. And member, are I don't know that it's appropriate for you to put something that they didn't ask for. So that may be something that you put on the next section that I think is

No. No. I didn't say put it. I'd said that's we were asked Right. What would we suggest that we'd asked in here. And what I've said is pretty much similar, but it's a little clearer such that there it doesn't come back again of as to what it is that they want us to be doing for. Right. So Right. Is also I'm fine with Okay. You know, I I recognize that this is their and the Perfect. And the staff's place to say what would they like us to be doing. So

So what I get is from what Ellen just said and what you contributed is that they want, like, a two point one point three, which is review our tourism plan. Bring our tourism plan up to date because that last tourism plan was done pre COVID, was it not? Okay. If I recall correctly, I

think it's 2018, but I'm not certain if there

was

an

update on that.

They're saying review it. They're not saying update it.

Right. They're saying review it. Review it for Right.

What we've done and what we haven't done, what so I just just wanna

Right. Review the tourism plan and make sure that we're seeing where we have done work, where we haven't done work, and report that back to them.

I think that would make sense. Yes.

Okay.

So, what if we word that as, review the current tourism strategic plan, to determine what items have been addressed. Yeah. And do you want to go as in-depth as to say, and in what capacity, or just, to determine what items have been addressed? And I think what capacity. Because some we may have just touched on lightly,

and some we may not have touched on at all, and some may have been touched on deeply. And that way, they know the full extent. Okay. I I would agree with that.

Does everybody else agree with adding that?

No. I think I think it works, and it needs you know, when we look at the next section, these two things work together. And the council's going to have ultimate approval. So the things that we say we want to do, it's our way to express to them, Here is what we want to do. And they can say, no. We don't. We don't agree if they did if they're if they don't. So I think that works.

Madam chair, over here. Sorry. It's it's when it comes out of there, you don't know where it's coming from. Thank you. I just had a a quick point that and I just maybe for miss Madison to clarify that when you're when you're under 2.1, it's things that have been assigned by the council, and a working group is not the council.

So I I wouldn't wanna get it it is semantics, but the council as a body has not spoken yet. I would recommend that this suggestion go into the 2.2 about being proposed by the board that it the the the subcommittee or the the work plan committee or I'm not quite sure of the correct title is saying that that's what they want, but three members of the council is not the body speaking just like two members of LTAP is not the body speaking. So just to be to clarify that, I would make that recommendation, but I'll leave that up to to you as the board and maybe miss Madison to clarify if I'm mistaken.

In general, that working group is kind of previewing them, reviewing them to determine what they're what they're recommending to the council. So, I mean, I think it's fine either place. Again, I just feel like it probably should be there if they've suggested it.

Yeah. I think, I understand, where Katie is coming from. But being I mean, I I know it's not the group as a whole, but maybe we consider, keeping it in that 2.1 purview and then seeing if they want to move it. For now, since that's where they did put the suggestion, they didn't put it under 2.2. That would be my thoughts. But if you guys have additional thoughts

I would save the council. I know it's not the full council, but if that's where they recommended to start, we can start there. And then if they decide they wanna move it to 2.2, we move it to 2.2.

Does councilor Han have any insight? I mean, as a councilor sitting here about how we should handle this.

Hi. Thank you for the opportunity to step in and and give an opinion here. I'd I'd like to just, say a general statement that I I think that it looks like both council the the council working group is already looking at, how the tourism implementation plan could fit in this working plan. You are also trying to figure out how to incorporate parts of the tourism implementation plan into your working plan. So I would just recommend to revise your work plan with all the items that you think should be there, and resubmit it to the working group and see what they say as far as, you know, yes, we, you know, we agree with that or no or, you know, they can discuss any issues, you know, staffing or whatever, after they take a a look at it.

But I I just, be bold and say what you want and submit it, see what comes back. So I think I think it's it sounds like it may be a positive outcome. What do you have to lose?

Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that.

So I guess from that, I I think we keep it in 2.1. Okay. And but the working group make any suggestions if they need to. Mhmm.

Alright. Okay. So that leads us to 2.2. There were not any suggestions about these two that were already listed as to if there should be anything more, anything less. So two point two point one is list other projects and activities being proposed, identify and evaluate potential projects and initiatives that can effectively increase increase visitor spending, extend visitor time spent in the community, and maximize the economic benefits of tourism visitation for Los Alamos County.

And then 2.2 oh, those numbers are off. I will make sure that gets fixed because they are both two point two point one somehow in here. So it'd be two point two point two, provide recommendations and changes regarding the solicitation of future RFPs. This was one that I added to include after a few conversations just because the contract with Sunny five zero five is ending in September. And because those that is funded by lodgers tax, any insight you have, in reviewing the current, RFP that they're part of regarding what they're offering us, things of that nature.

When we put this out for solicitation, we wanna make sure you know, things have changed in marketing since five plus years ago, I think, is when they signed this contract. And any insight that you guys have about ways to have their contract written to include other items, or, I guess, the contract for whomever receives that, from us, how that might look, I think, would be really beneficial. Yes, Connor?

Are we allowed to have their current contract to review so we can see it for future reference?

Yes. Yes. I can get I can get you a copy of that. And that's something, if you'd want, I would say next even even next agenda, we could we could have that as something to kinda go over on a higher level for you guys to take with you and kind of read through after it as well. And then maybe two meetings from now is when, you know, we can get those suggestions from you because I know we need that solicitation out sooner rather than later, so we hopefully don't have any kind of lapse in contracts. I think that sounds good. Is there anything else you as a board feel maybe needs to be added to this section as projects or activities?

Go ahead, Kevin.

Yeah. I I, last time distributed a couple ideas on this, and, hopefully, you remember that there's a there's a one pager where I've I have a proposed two point two point one. It doesn't matter what number it is, but I would, I would recommend and suggest that that be added on the list and a second, a two point the the two point two point two. These are somewhat like what this new two point two point one says, but I think they're a little more precise. And and for me, they would be easier to follow.

And so with you know, as counselor Han suggested, I would love us to be bold and and really take on these two. And I can read them. But if you're not following what I'm talking about, these things were, distributed, to everyone. The first one was conduct a comprehensive inventory and review of the county's tourism related personnel capabilities, resources, and funding that are directly supporting the goals outlined in the Los Alamos County tourism strategic plan. And the reason that I think this one is important is without understanding what we're working with in terms of of of resources and and people and talents and such, I don't know how we can do a very good job of of make of recommending how the how the lodgers tax resources should be utilized much less bigger providing bigger picture input into policies that would help implement that strategic plan.

The second is closer to this one that's been listed in the agenda doc, and it's identify and evaluate potential projects in addition in initiatives that can effectively increase visitor spending, extend visitor time spent in the community, and maximize economic benefits. That one, you know, the wording that's been done on the what was handed out is fine for pro for that one. But I think the more precise we can get, and it's not really precision, but the more the better we define these work plan items, the more likely it is we're gonna do something about it. So

Well, and I agree with that. At the same time, I don't think we're allowed to review like, what I heard in that first one that you talked about was review county personnel and for us to look at what sort of that is beyond our purview.

Right. How how did you get that?

Is that it is up to the county to decide how they want to implement our suggestions. It's not us up not up to us to direct the county as to how to direct their workforce.

We're we're not doing that. That that what I just read said nothing of the sort. It said is we need to understand those things in order to understand what we're working with to make a recommendation.

Except that's I still see that as beyond our purview. I don't maybe legal can can help us here, but I see us as being able to recommend different paths forward. It's not our job to review what kind of staff the county has involved.

But but if we don't even know the environment we're in, how do we recommend a path?

It looks like miss

Massivelli I'll start, and then I'll we'll do the tag team, Katie. I guess what I'll first just preface it by is, in your review of the tourism strategic plan, there is a lot of talk about organizational structure and structure of the tourism environment in our county. So I think you in doing that review, all this may, you'll have to look at that anyway. I understand what you're saying that operationally right. I mean, the boards do not have purview over the operations of the county.

So I under and I appreciate you being very clear in not getting even close to that line. So I but I I like I said, I think in evaluating the tourism plan, I think you will, get some of that information. The other thing I wanna caution you is this is a calendar year plan. So this is what you think you can get done in this calendar year. So I just caution that, you know, what can get done in the, you know, in the next, really, ten months.

Right. And I get where you're not seeing where we're miscommunicating with what she just said is that I think you can see how the structure is, and we can evaluate how we wanna move or if we want to recommend that that structure could change or move in that way. At the same time, going beyond that point is not in our purview.

But but, what I've suggested has nothing to do with going beyond that purview, or if you could tell me how you read it that way. But it it really doesn't. What what we really need to do is something that I don't think any of us or if any of you think you understand right now what is the nature of what we're doing big picture. I haven't found anybody who who could really fill that blank in for me in two months. My biggest concern about not being a little more, precise and a little clearer about what we're gonna do is we'll continually run into roadblocks on that are, in essence, judgments that are not really I mean, it's their their opinions about what we can and what we can't know about.

Frankly, we don't know a about a heck of a lot. You know? We got earlier a lodgers tech fund statement, which is good. I mean, it's good to understand how those are being used. But my first question is is, well, why are any of those things make sense? Maybe they do, but without knowing how how the rest of the program is being funded and to what extent, how could I possibly make any informed judgment about that?

I wanted to add something in regards to what Kevin is saying. So on our 2.21, there are two issues right now that are low hanging fruit for tourism that are very timely. The number one issue is that we ran out of shovel shuttle drivers last year, which tanked our tourism numbers, and it's really interesting because it's you can totally see it. And if there would be some possibility of our group helping to fund marketing so we could hire enough shuttle drivers that we don't have to shut down our tourism season like we did last year, I could I think that could be a great strength and something we could do now because they're gonna start hiring next month. The other thing that I think is a big opportunity for this group is we see a lot of tourism during the balloon fiesta.

Last year, 850,000 people came to Albuquerque, and Ellen and I went and manned a booth there. But I was like, why don't we do geo fencing so all the people attending the balloon fiesta get a little visit Los Alamos link? And if we could start looking into getting that funded, we could see some gains and achievements and results very quickly for this group. And I think that goes back to what the county manager the deputy county manager was saying, like, what can we do in a year and accomplish and not get muddled down and processed and reviews? Let's pick some goals and go after them and make them happen.

Right. And then part of what Kevin said goes back to that 2.1 area that we already discussed in that we're evaluating where we're at right now in regards to the tourism task force initial plan and going through that. Am I right in the way I'm saying that? Am I understanding? Yes.

That's how I understand it as well. Okay. So I love Shanna's point as to like, those are two things that we could look at right now to seeing if we can't recommend those items to camp council as to, like, ways to fund and and talk about the importance of those because those are ways just to get people into the community and have those as part of our work plan with the idea that this all has to be accomplished in ten months. It's not a multiyear no. It's a very good point. It's not a multiyear plan. What can we accomplish months?

And I'll since I'm up here, I'm gonna say one more thing for the recommendations and changes to the future RFPs. If you could be a little bit more specific because that's pretty broad. So, again, if you wanna say RFPs that utilize Rogers tax funding, that would make me feel better.

That's a great plan. I think we can make that change too. Yeah. Right.

Madam Sharon, this is Katie over here.

Yeah.

I just wanted to point out too, just really a a point of information. So the work plan is for other items that you're asking the council to kind of bless and say, yes. Please go forward and work on these. There's nothing within your next ten months that at your next meeting, you put it on the agenda and say, we wanna make a recommendation to counsel on x. So if it were for transit bus drivers marketing, that doesn't necessarily have to be within your work plan because it is within your your charter, if you will, under chapter eight about providing public input and making recommendations on to counsel on how to use the funding.

So Okay. Every specific recommendation does not have to be listed in your work plan. 2.2 is projects and activities kind of above and beyond what is in chapter eight. Like, we want counsel to bless this because it's not maybe necessarily within the strict reading of chapter eight. So we're asking you, these are a project we wanna spend our time on. Counsel, do you agree with that? But there's nothing prohibiting you from your work plan to say, you know what? Next month, we wanna talk about transit drivers, and we think that that's something that we wanna ask counsel to use that money for now. That could go on your agenda for next month. So I just wanna make that clarification that not every action that the board takes has to be listed in your work plan.

I appreciate that. Thank you. I think we're trying just to make sure, like Kevin said, we have actionable items Mhmm. So that we can always hold ourselves accountable moving forward too.

And that's one of the reasons that for each of these, I've kinda given a a separate page with just ideas, not not something that had to be the way you do it that says, this is how it's actionable. It can there's nothing here that is multiyear in nature. All of the things that I'm suggesting, I believe we should be tackling in short order. And they actually lead to and put us in a good position to consider, you know, ideas like the ones that that Shana mentioned, which we're not in a very good position right now to make any strategic decisions or or or or about those kind of tactical or, working level kinds of things.

So Right.

No. That makes good sense.

So I guess kinda all that being said, what what changes do you as a board wanna make to these two? I know we mentioned, the one with RFPs. It seems like, we're all in agreement to be more specific in saying related to future RFPs, you know, related to utilizing lodgers tax funding. Right. But but what are the other ones you'd

Well, the one that I've suggested that I think as I look at it, I could live with certainly with what's been drafted in two point two point one. So if, what I would like to suggest is that we, add the first of the of the items in the handout that I provided last month and again today or yesterday, I guess.

I guess the question is, it seemed like there were some varying opinions. Do do we wanna have a vote amongst the board whether you guys want to include that or not, or how would you like to Yeah.

I don't know how how we want to decide about that. Maybe is there somebody who would object to that being added as a two point two point two? Is there anyone that's that's like feels like, oh, that would be a terrible idea to to place that in there?

I guess I need you to read it again, Kevin. This is where I'm at.

You you don't have the handout?

I'm trying to pull it up.

Yep. I'll read it again. Conduct a comprehensive inventory and review of the county's tourism related personnel capabilities and resources and funding that are directly supporting the goals outlined in the Los Alamos County tourism strategic plan. So that you know, again, it is not saying make any direction, tell anybody what to do. Right. It's saying understand these things so that we have the a a for the other things, both of these other ones that would be in there. So

Then my question is is how is it different than reviewing the tourism plan that we've been directed to do by council?

Reviewing the tourism plan is a very broad statement. I mean, reviewing the tourism plan, I I don't know. What does that what does if it means, and we agreed today, that it would encompass doing creating this kind of understanding, I'm fine with that. But what I expect is if we are not a little more precise than that to run into roadblock after roadblock trying to trying to understand these things.

Well, and I guess what I felt like when we talked about two point one point two was that we would review the tourism plan with the idea as to what degree we have implemented, haven't implemented, or haven't don't really have the ability to implement what was recommended there. So do those things all come together under two point one point two is my question.

And then I have a question. We have a staff report every single meeting. That staff report tells us what they're doing and how they're, you know, assisting us within our group. So I'm not sure how doing such an invasive

Right. And I'm getting that it's a little bit less invasive than what I first thought to, Dana, from what Kevin has been said from what Kevin has said. I think it's really going back to that initial tourism plan and really starting with the point that this is what has been addressed. This is what hasn't been addressed. This is to the extent that we've addressed the items that have been addressed. And then at the end, saying, do we have the capacity to address these items with the current structure in place? Was that a better succinct way of putting it? I think so.

Let me let me go back. Let me reread what we currently have down in that 2.1. Right. And then we can determine if we wanna change any of the verbiage there that I think might help include some of what Kevin is is talking about with his idea. So right now, the way that we have that written is to review the current tourism strategic plan to determine what items have been addressed and in what capacity and which ones we still need to address. I think we might wanna add to that, and which ones we still need to address and how to do so, maybe. Yeah.

I think that's true.

Is there anything else, you feel might help clarify on some of that to help include what you'd like there? For

for my part, same thing I just said was just include what I've suggested as a third. I'm unless there's somebody who has some big object objection about it. You know, I hear what you're saying, Dana, but the report that I've seen for the last two months has been very limited and does not really address the full range of what's going on to try to to take the the program for tourism and visitation in the community. We've seen kind of a the snapshot of the lodgers tax funds statement, which is really I have no idea how big or small a slice of the pie it really represents. So I'm I'm I'm kinda with you.

I'd love to see those reports kinda get more to the broader, fuller agenda. As far as it seeming intrusive, I don't know what how finding out how our county works is intrusive in any way. I mean, it's to me, it's it's our county. It's our government. So

I do think it's important to understand what bandwidth the county employees have. So I I think that that would be important to add because we don't want to overwhelm you all with random requests. Yeah. So I I do wanna take into consideration, you know, you guys have a lot on your shoulders. This is just another task at hand.

I do agree with that.

I don't know if we came up with a total solution there. I think saying what you said, Ellen, and I have trouble because I I'm I'm trying to put it all together into one thing, saying with an eye to staffing and and the fact that this doesn't all have to happen at the next meeting too. I mean, this is gonna be a multi month project. But review the tourism plan, the depth of it, like we said earlier, and make sure I think I can't find your I I keep looking, Kevin, and I just don't have it on my phone. And so that's why I keep coming back.

So and I think completing an

So this

the tourism right. And I think what we said is look at the current tourism plan. So just make sure I'm right here. The the level to which we have addressed items in there and what we haven't addressed, and also looking and reviewing the county's abilities, capabilities, and resources that are available to support that tourism plan. That's what you said. Yeah. I'm trying to put it all together into one.

But I put it into one. I I I don't know that I want maybe the county council meant something different in the one that's up above. I'm this would I'm just suggesting we make this something that we suggest that we do.

So Great. But I think this comes into two point one point one as being something

It's fine.

That happens. Yes. And we can add We can add it later.

And we can add the verbiage. We we review the county's tourism resources and provide a list of recommendation for needed resources and

Yes.

As a as a way to make it more palatable linguistically, maybe.

Yeah. Because I think that's what Kevin's sort of getting at is is it's let's look at that and then look at where we don't have the resources we need moving forward.

Yeah. Or where we can shift things if if it makes sense. We're not shift things, but recommend

Right.

Shifting things.

Right. Right.

If it makes sense. That's that's kinda what I'm I'm getting at. I don't know why it would be important to have it all in one, but it's okay if it is. But I think it's what I really were concerned about is we're not specific enough, and then we run into roadblocks of, well, I don't I don't interpret it that way. I don't, you know, I don't and and that's that's, some of what I've already seen in the first couple of months of being involved.

Well and I think keeping Katie's point in mind is really important is that this is a work plan. There are things that can be added as we go along, as we see things that need to happen.

This you know, really, this is our one chance as far as anything I can see to really communicate with the council about what we want them to have our backs on. Right.

So Right. So we wanna get it in there. So are we all in agreement now with

do you want me to read it? Ah, go for it. Okay. This is what I have. And if we want changes, we can make them. So that, two point one point three. Right? That's what we're calling it? Yeah. So I have review the current tourism strategic plan to determine what items have been addressed and in what capacity and which ones we still need to address and how to do so. In doing this review, we will consider the county's abilities, capabilities, and resources. In addition, we will make suggestions as to how to move forward.

Does that all sound good to everyone?

I can live with it.

Alright. Sounds good. Alright.

Alright. What if I told you we're still not done with the plan? I know. We're at

2.3.

Yes. We made it to 2.3. 2.3 are really just list the guiding documents. Does anybody have any oppositions to this part? No. Alright. Three point o, we did have another suggestion here. So it's identify interfaces with county departments and or other boards commissions that are necessary to achieve this work plan. So the 3.1 is currently as written. So no notes on that.

So council, county manager's office, community development department, community services department, and others as needed. Their suggested ad here, which I guess it'll be up to you guys to decide, but I think this is definitely in our purview, is to interface with art and public places, environmental sustainability board, historic preservation advisory board, Library Board, Parks and Recreation Board, Transportation Board, and the Inclusivity Task Force. Does that work for everybody? I think that makes sense with some of these initiatives and especially working to review that plan that probably will be beneficial.

Yes. I agree. Sounds good.

Which leads us to any special events we plan to participate in or support. I still have NA. Anybody against that? Okay. Which leads us to bear with me. I need to scroll my screen at the same time. Active working groups, there currently is not. As deputy county manager Madison said, it could be an initiative for some of the things you discussed regarding businesses. It could be a working group. It's ultimately your guys' decision.

It's also your decision. As I mentioned earlier, this isn't something that needs to be black and white right now. Maybe it's something discussed next time, how you wanna achieve some of those goals with the small business community.

One thing I'd suggest, and it goes right along with what Dana mentioned earlier, It sounds like possibly there's some interest in a local business interface working group or or something. So we to really work on getting more input the best we can from local business community. So that it's one that's come to mind just as we're sitting here today.

Well and, also, I think I agree with you, Kevin, and, also, with the idea that we added to three point o, the fact that we do wanna interface with other boards. I mean, just bringing up other types of recreational events and working with parks and art board and that sort of thing. I think there's definitely room for some of those things moving forward. Yes, counselor Hand.

Thank you. I just wanted to mention that we do have this new working group within council, to interface with small and local businesses. So maybe that's where you you put it is in under five point zero

Yeah.

Because you list that

That's excellent.

You know? And then you have that tie.

Thank you. I appreciate that. I think that's very true if council has that now. We wanna make sure we're tying into that.

And and just for

clarification, so when we think about that process, what what's that gonna mean? So if we're gonna use the council small business group tied to our group, what what will that mean? Are we gonna provide are we gonna go out and get input from small businesses to provide to them? Or what is the work that we're gonna do in that relationship? Just so we have some clarification on what that means.

I have ideas about that, but

I don't know that you necessarily have to specify everything at this point for the work plan. I think just identifying that that is a a potential connection

Mhmm.

For your activities. And as you continue working throughout the year, you might, you know, start to realize how it may come in handy to to collaborate with them. But, yeah, we we can always, determine, you know, all the details when we're in the planning stage, you know, for our work plan for the year. Mhmm. That's why I think we have a little bit of leeway, you know, that if projects and things come up that are more specific than what our work plan is, as long as we have general scope under the work plan, you know, and and those detailed items fit under that, then we should be fine, I don't think.

And I

would suggest that at the next meeting, we need to talk about if we think we need working groups, what those working groups would look like, and how those would be organized. And I think that's an agenda item for the next meeting to to more fully address this five point o, but know that we wanna have an eye to that as we move forward. So I guess

To me, it doesn't matter whether it's in there or not, but but kind of building off of what councilor Han mentioned. How I could really see it working is that that work group is going to be talking to businesses on a whole range of issues. So say they have an opportunity to gather input from businesses, why does there need to be a separate tourism one and a separate Main Street one? And, know, I mean so a lot of the questions crossover and are really crosswired. So by having that connection, it could really lead to being a little more streamlined in how we engage and are able to engage and get input, from the the local business community.

But I I think it's important when we set goals that we use smart measures, and we kinda figure out how we're gonna do them. Because what happens is is you put a lot of vague stuff in a work plan, and at the end of the year, nothing has been accomplished. So it would be really good for us to figure out what who are these working groups, what they're gonna produce, and how they're gonna produce it so that we don't launch into this work plan and a year from now go, oh, did we talk to that business about tourism or staff? Because we're we didn't even decide how we're gonna document the information and relay it to the counselors. So I I I think with these work plans, I have to be very careful because it becomes like spaghetti.

We're just throwing stuff at the wall to see what will stick, but we need to be thoughtful in the process and know that this work group is going to accomplish x, and then they're gonna provide this information to counselors just so we have some clear direction on what we're gonna launch into for the next year.

So, the way I interpret it for, section five in the work plan is that they just want an active list of working groups. Oh, well, it says within this board and commission.

Mhmm.

Yeah. So different. I didn't quite read it that way before.

I think

No. That that would be something external. So maybe it goes in a different section about that that business.

Probably goes into 3.1. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. It probably goes Yeah. But you were talking about a work group today, and maybe that's where you put it in there if you feel that it has any merit. All you have to do is list it. And I I don't think you have to have the full scope because I think you're trying to figure that out right now. Right? But but if you really want a working group, you think it's not gonna be you. It's going to be a team, a smaller team that can get into the nitty gritty of Right. You know, a particular task, then, you know, you could list it out that way. And I don't think that necessarily is spaghetti.

I think what Jen mentioned is is just fine to kind of make that a future agenda item and

decide I think that's something that we have to talk about in the future because we don't have the ability to hash that out today. But in in regards to the county council and them having a working group that's gonna be working with small businesses, I think you can certainly say something along the lines if we want in 3.3 or 3.4 that says, this board will actively work to keep an eye and ear out to what the county council's small working group is doing in this area and to attend the meetings or those things.

Give them the ability to leverage what we're doing and so Right.

And and make sure that we're staying attuned to that group as we move forward in our plans Right. So that we're all moving in the same direction and all working towards the same end goals.

So I guess the only other question I would have is if LTAP decides to make a work group after the approval of the work plan and yet there is no work group listed, Is there some sort of, problem with that?

Great question, counselor Hand. So the the council did amend the b and c, the boards and commissions handbook, last summer, and it does outline, the the process by which to create working groups, so it is allowed. The way that I interpret this five point or five point o is what do you have active? And right now, I think you don't have anything active, so it is clear to say nothing. If you wanted to if you kinda wanted to straddle that line of where we wanna talk about it in the future, but we don't have anything now, you could put something there that as of this, the date of this work plan, we don't have any.

But in our future meetings, we're we're gonna be discussing whether or not they are appropriate. You don't have the purpose, and you don't have the the members on that. So I think that if you wanted to kinda just say, we we don't have any now, but we're looking at it with an eye towards maybe a working group to work alongside with the council working group with small businesses, something along those lines. But you're not prohibited from creating work groups because it's not on your work plan.

Okay. And I think that's all we'd wanna say is that we are going to be looking at we have nothing currently, but we would like to look at that in the future.

And and if I may, just for just a brief follow-up, the purpose of work groups are to be able to do work outside of a publicly notice meeting. Because if you were to say the board is going to attend these council meetings with the small businesses, we have to do notice and agenda, and staff has to be there to take minutes, and we have to have public comments and all of those things. So the purpose of having work groups is to say, it's a sub quorum. So for this board, it can only be two people attending certain things to, you know, do some research, do some investigation, you know, whatever your task is or your purpose to then come back to this board to tell LTAP what we've done as a working group, and then LTAB makes a decision. Do we want to take that and move it forward to the council?

So it it's very higher hierarchical,

I think,

in in that way where working group is a working group to LTAP. Then LTAP decides to make a decision or not for to recommend to counsel. And then from there, counsel will either say yay or nay to the the ward or to county manager and say, yes. Implement this recommendation. So it just helps business get done instead of having the whole board there where we have to do notice and publication and all of those things.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

I have one question in this whole general topic. Last time, Shanna mentioned that she had convened or was talking to some group, which I'm not sure what that is. Yeah. Or what is that?

That's my own tourism work group, and I meet with all the people that are working in the tourist industry because we're trying to consolidate the calendar so that people aren't duplicating events and efforts. And we've only met one time, and we have a second meeting coming up. So it's just a working group of the people working in the tourism industry.

So LTAP isn't intended to be any interface to that?

No. Okay. So all that being said, in 5.1, I will add, we currently do not have any working groups. However, we are looking to create one in the future. And then the other thing I kinda wanted to go back on because you mentioned it here, in three point o with identifying interfaces with county departments and or boards and commissions, we already list council in 3.1. But did you want to add a 3.3 that says I think we always

already let list it because I do see that. I think we're okay. Does that work for everybody?

And I think by saying council, I think we keep in mind all the different working groups that they might have Yep. And anything that goes with that.

That sounds good, Ellen. Thank you. Alright.

Leads us to the next part. Does anybody have any changes? I feel like this is all really straightforward as to what our council priorities are that align. And that's really, I think that's the last of the work plan. So, if everybody's okay, with those changes, I think we went through them and approved them as we went along, I won't repeat myself yet again Okay. For the

sake of time. No. That's great, Ellen.

Thank you. And so I guess the then we have to go back to this motion then.

So the next motion is to approve the 2025 Lodgers tax advisory work plan as we have discussed in this meeting, and that the board would authorize the chair to sign and authorize the final plan so that we can get that to the county council this week.

So move.

He did he did great, and I need a second. Second. Alright. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Alright. So the motion has passed. And then it looks like

what? I said I'm getting there. I still have to scroll, but I have to take notes for who just voted. Okay.

Alright. And then it looks like we have our monthly report.

Bear with me. Gotta scroll through the pages again. It looks like Discovery Los Alamos, but Mel is not here in attendance, so we will just put this in as reference for you to review. Today, I will say going through this report hang on. Let me get to the page.

It was asked last time about how many requests there were for visitor guides, and I was able to get that. I know we mentioned it was listed there, but bear with me. Scrolling through the pages and all the survey responses. I believe somewhere in here, it's listed. It is. Adventure guides mailed. You help me? What page are you?

It's right under the Manhattan Project National Historic Report.

Oh, sorry. Bear with me. Can Eric do have comments? This way? Yeah. Stop. Right there. Ah, yes. Adventure thank you. I couldn't remember if she put on a dot graph because the last time I saw it, it was in a different format. But that is there to look year over year how many requests we are getting for visitor guides. As mentioned, yeah, I'm not sure what happened with the website. We actually have more places now than we used to for people to request guides on that new site. So kinda interesting that we are seeing that staggering difference in what people are requesting.

Yeah. That's huge. Mhmm. Alright.

So I guess that's that one. And then yeah. So in your own time, you can read through that and what those numbers look like. Again, bear with me many pages in this pamphlet, which leads us to sunny five 05.

Jamie I have a quick

Oh, okay. Go ahead. Ahead.

Question about the discover Los Alamos. Melanie had told me that there's some discussion going on that would eliminate potentially eliminate the FYI calendar, and I'm curious of what's what's going on with that. That is I I I've been kind of evaluating some of our online stuff, and it's like the calendar that's on the, tourism website is kind of like a community kinda calendar rather than things that would particularly be of interest to the visitors, I would think. And the and then Melanie has this FYI calendar that LACDC, I guess, has maintained, and that's the source of the of kind of a newsletter that goes to, hopefully, and other people who sign up for it to kinda know what are the visitor and tourist touristic kinds of events of interest.

So Melanie sends out an email every week.

Yeah. But she told she had told me I've you know, I I was trying to do some things because as I've been talking to local businesses, a lot of people say, how do I get in anything that I'm doing on this calendar? And there was not a lot of knowledge, so I've been making connections to try to get her connected up. And so I was going to talk to her because the or trying to get her her to meet just to point out to her that that calendar has the capability to automate a lot of that through through feeds so that events where other people are having event calendars feed directly into the calendar and populate it. And I couldn't really get that meeting, but then I finally got something from her saying, well, they're they're from what she understands, they may be doing away with that calendar.

So I'm just curious of what's going on with our calendars.

So the problem with that program is when they got set it, as they set up that program, they did outreach to all the tourist groups and designated people to update the calendars, and nobody was updating the calendars. So then there was a lot of crossover with events and miscommunications. So this little working group of all the people that are involved in tourism, that's what we're trying to figure out. How do we improve communications? How do we centralize the calendar?

How do we automate it so we have one person that has oversight to make sure that if so and so from this organization didn't upload their events, we know to go after it and get it. Because the going after it and getting it wasn't happening. So we've been talking to LACDC, Main Street, the chamber, all the tourist groups, and we're working on a plan to create a new calendar system.

So I would appreciate being included in the the discussions, not at the nitty gritty of how do you get somebody to do it. But because I think there's a missing component there if we're if we're just talking to I think what you're talking about is attractions when you say the the people involved in tourism. Well, the the the I think we wanna try to get businesses more involved too, and many of those businesses do a lot of the events that can be, I think, quite interesting, to for people to know about. But if it's if the with that if there's no objection, I'd like to be looped into that and be involved in understanding what's going on and, hopefully, would could contribute some ideas for how how that could potent possibly work.

And we're we're including the small businesses already in that conversation because we've started doing outreach for the recent events that we've had, And that's been in partnership with our partners, LACDC and the chamber. We are trying to create a system so we have a calendar. But also, this calendar will be available for small businesses if they have an event. So we can help them market it out to the public. So we're we're actively working on this this group, but you're more than welcome to be involved.

Please invite me.

I think the one thing we need to make sure of is quorum, related to people's positions because, like, Dana was in attendance because she's a hotelier. And because of Jen's role, she also was in attendance at the last meeting we had. So I think just making sure we we don't hit that threshold will be the biggest part of it because

well, it'd be great to

have all your input in the same room at the same time. It would then mean it becomes this kind of meeting instead of the kind of ad hoc situation we have right now with those people.

And I I think it's important that we keep the the purview of LTab at LTab and then all the other stuff

on, we we need to keep

we need to keep that separate. So that that's the other thing too that's hard to keep that crossover from happening. But we have a limited mission with the LTAP, and I think we to focus on that so we get that done. And so I think it's important to keep all those things in mind.

You know, I do have a question on past discussions, and I'm sorry. But remember we were talking about, like, the visit widget and those different programs? Yes. Are we any closer with any of that, and is that something that at some point we need to add into this? Because

I actually took it out because of the funding that it would cost for any program like that is more than what the current budget is just by trying to get some of those numbers from those entities. In addition to the fact that it wouldn't be something based upon, you know, what funds do exist because you can't put that in a printing and binding bucket by any means when you're looking at the financial side of it. In addition, you we also have another ADA compliant program that the county is looking at for other purposes. So we are kind of on a pause with anything regarding any program similar to Visit Widget or that kind of aspect like Van Wango just because there is another effort related to ADA compliance and audio that is going on through the county manager's office right now. And, that goes back to the funding and the spend and it being budget season right now.

That's something that likely won't be coming from LTAP funds just because a cost for a year for any of those programs is upwards of $10,000, and that's more than what currently is kind of at large in the supplies bucket that you guys have, if that makes sense. Great. Thanks for working on that, Ellen. I appreciate the update.

Alright. So, honey, five zero five. Jamie, I'm gonna ask you to go really quick.

Alright. I will just run through super quick. For anyone who I have not met yet, I am Jamie Dickerman. I'm I was Sunny five zero five. I work with Joni on the account, and I'm filling in with her today.

So it's great to see you all. I know you have our reports, so I'm just gonna quickly run through the highlights. For social media, audiences are sitting around 15,600 for Facebook, around 1,400 for Instagram. Content saw good numbers for reach across both platforms, over 10,000 for Facebook and over 16,000 for Instagram. On the public relations side, last month, we distributed a news release on the top 25 experiences in Los Alamos County for 2025.

That did receive local pickup, and we are actively pitching it to regional and national lists and reporters. We are also finalizing up a news release on the film and culture festival that will go out as soon as it is ready today or tomorrow. And we are working our next promotion will be things related to ski estas, spring break, spring activities, and events. And, additionally, we've also been working on the process of applying for the New Mexico True co op advertising for fiscal year 2026. And I know we've got our data file reports in there as well.

Those are basically gonna show us kind of, you know, where people are coming from, how long they're staying, and we can kinda take a look at that picture there in the interest of saving time because I know I am not the last thing on the agenda. The the reports are in your packet. So if you have any questions, let us know or let Ellen know, and we're happy to address those.

Thanks, Jamie. So appreciate it. And I feel the same way our lower numbers this year, we are attributing to not having the ski hill open. Well, I mean, it's open, but not having the snow we had.

Right.

Sort of disappointing. Absolutely.

Thank you. Absolutely.

Oops. Does anyone have any questions for Jamie?

Jamie, I have a one quick question. You said that you're doing a special campaign for spring break. Can you elaborate on that a little bit?

Yeah. So, I mean, it's it's essentially, you know, for maybe those spring break travelers. We usually typically promote Siesta as well as visits to the national parks, kind of some outdoor rec, as well as anything, you know, that might kind of be going on. So it it's really geared toward kind of that drive market, road trippers, families coming in for spring break, or or people coming in for spring break that way. So it's largely largely centered around Siesta, but with other attractions and and things that'll kind of play to that demographic of families traveling for spring break.

Alright. Awesome. Does anyone else have questions? Alright. Thank you, Jamie.

Absolutely. Thank you.

So I think the last thing we have on this agenda was something actually I asked Ellen to put on there. Currently, I am chair of LTAP, and I'm happy to remain chair of LTAP. However, since I was the last person on LTAP before everybody left and we brought on three new people, I did feel like we needed to do an election of chair and vice chair if people felt moved to do so just because all of you are new.

Well, I'd like to move that we leave you as our chair.

Police. You do a great job, and thank you for everything you do. Thanks, Dana.

Second. Second. Yep.

Dana? Nope. Alright. All those in favor?

You.

Alright.

Thank you for being here.

I appreciate that. And I would also like to put a vice chair in there just so that moving forward, if there is a reason I cannot attend a meeting, we have a vice chair. And my thought on this is to do that with Connor just because I feel like Kevin's going to, and this is my opinion, is gonna be leading us in other areas. And so to bring her on and Dana, you are swamped as it is, and I love all that you do. But I was hoping that Connor could go ahead and get approved as vice chair so that if I am gone, she is here to help us lead things forward.

So move.

I need a second. Second. Alright. All those in favor?

You.

Aye. Alright. Thank you for being willing, ma'am.

There is one other item on the agenda.

There's technically two. There are two.

There's actually two. Other announcements in the next meeting, future agenda items. So do we have any other announcements that any yeah. Go ahead, Gimman.

I'm gonna hand out because it's fairly detailed, and we may not want to spend too much time on it. But I wanna make a report to the rest of the board. I've I've had a lot of communications that in trying to just come up to speed and understand things, things that I've been learning about, that I think would be really valuable to share. On the other hand, I get this sense that I'm not supposed to share anything with anybody unless it's at a meeting or something. I don't know if that's right.

It's a little weird and and, frankly, a little concerning. But I do want to share information in case any of the rest of you find that it could be useful to know about these things. It's just like the thing Dana, raised earlier of, gee, could we be involved and know what you're doing with respect to this thing? Absolutely. But when would we ever do that? One So of the things I'd like to suggest is that these other announcements, we've actually modified that a little bit, and we say slash board communications and make it an agenda item where we as board members can communicate with each other about things that we've been learning that we think others could be

Here in the meeting.

Benefit from. Yeah.

Can we do that? So

I'm gonna lean on legal for their advice on this one.

Madam chair, you can. You can change that to other announcements and, you know, board member communications. What I do any subtopics, what you would have to caution on, it's it's one way communication. So a board member could say, you know, I've got, like, mister, I've got information I wanna provide you here today. This is where I got it.

This is my take on it. You know, however you wanna communicate. But because it's not specified on the agenda as a board discussion, it's just a member discussion, it's more of a one way conversation. So it's more of information sharing in a one way format that if you have comments or questions, then you need to put it on a future agenda agenda, excuse me, and have some specificity. So the purpose under the open meetings act for the agenda is so that the public can look at the agenda and say, what is the board gonna talk about?

Is it specific enough that I know, like, I can or will or will not attend if I want to? And if it's not on the agenda, you can't talk about it for the same very reason. That if the public were to say, had I known you were gonna talk about that, I would've come just to to tell you my thoughts, but it wasn't that specific. So if it's at the end of the meeting, yes, you can absolutely do that. It's more of a one way communication, and then you can put it on future agenda meetings. But if you want to have it as a board discussion, then it would need to have a spec a specified topic so that the public will know what you're talking about.

Okay. So that being said, Kevin handed this out all out to us. He can give a short presentation on it and in communication with it. And then does this go into the notes for the meeting so that the public can see

this too? It can. That probably recommended. Yes. Yeah.

So I would prefer that, please.

Yeah. So if we can get a digital copy to Ellen to put into the notes.

And I I did that. I'm glad to share it electronically, but I there's this kind of vague Yeah. Maybe this would be something to understand. I can't, for the life of me, understand how sharing information one way is in some way risky, but but is it somehow? I mean

I think just to clarify what Katie was saying is what she's saying is you can share this, we can all listen. At the same time, we don't wanna restrict the public from having their moment to talk about this or have this on a future agenda item. So you share it today, you share that information with us, and then for next month's agenda, we have an agenda item in there that can say discussion on this if anyone wants to discuss it. And that way, the public can be a part of that discussion if they so choose. Correct.

So so take this as my one way sharing just to try to keep you all informed of what, of things that I am trying to do to try to understand and be prepared for, our work ahead. And I think, hopefully, some or all of you will find this potentially interesting knowledge in in some ways because it one of the things that cause prompted me to do this is it struck me that I'm kinda working on something, and I'm going, gee, I bet other people would like to know these same things or would be wondering about or may wonder about these same things or could benefit, and they may have it may give them 10 other great ideas if they if they understood the the discussion that was happening. So with that, I'm I'm glad for any future discussion or to tell anyone about it, but this is more kind of an information dump just to try to keep other people in the loop. One thing I will mention is that, the very last item on here, because somebody just asked about the visit widget thing, I went ahead and, got demos just to understand VisitWidget better, and I looked at another one that I think is quite promising in some ways called GuideGeek.

I do understand what Ellen is saying about funding, but that presumes that we're gonna continue to fund everything else the way we've always funded things. So I think that I I would not, ignore becoming, educated about those things and understanding those kind of things because it could well be we may find a reason to say, hey. In the scheme of things, we we might be better off funding something like that than funding some something else that we've always funded. So I think we need to kinda keep that in mind. One other thing that I did wanna point out is that number four at the January meeting, I was asked to research larger tax, rate limitations and potential sources of additional funding.

And I did check that, and it's it's the you know, there were there was a little bit of confusion about that when we talked about it at the meeting. The the it turns out that the lodgers tax is absolutely capped at 5%, but there is the provision in law for a thing called a hospitality fee that can be adopted locally, and it is adopted in several New Mexico communities. And in here, I've put the kind of the general rules for how that works and a citation if you wanna go read it directly yourself. But then there's also a a few bullets of other things that can be looked at as potentially to augment funding or resources available for tourism plan implementation. So that's pretty much what I got on that.

Thank you, Kevin. I appreciate this. I also think, as part to discuss as we discuss this as an agenda item for next month is, at one time, Lodgers Tax did talk about taxing, short term rentals, and there was a move to do that up here. And I I would love to know the status of all that moving forward. Not today, but next month.

Does anyone else right now at this meeting have things that they wanna put on the agenda for next month's meeting? This is certainly one thing that should be Kevin's thing to talk Kevin's document to talk about. Is there anything else? Go ahead, Kevin.

I I have one actually that's referenced in here, and it'll give you the background. I had asked for it to be put on this month's agenda, and it was the in in the month of February, the and and I think Jamie, referred to it. There is a mandatory survey, I think they call it, that has to be completed. And you'll see in here the under number two, a discussion of that. And number two, there's a whole list of things that have to be identified in that survey.

I had suggested that we hear about what what the answers to that survey were gonna be and be able to provide input, but that didn't pass the mustard of something for this month. But I think, it sounds like it was moot anyway because the survey had already been submitted, before we would have had a chance to have had any any comment on it. What I'd like to suggest is we have an item where, and it would where, Sunny five zero five and Ellen would review with us what how they answered that survey, what they did. And what you'll see is it's it's highly relevant because it asks what are our top tourism priority, related marketing priorities, what media channels, what geographic markets, all of those kinds of things Right. That I think are very useful and important for us to understand what what we are saying what we've been saying to the state department of tourism.

Right. I agree. Can we get a report on that next time around from Jamie?

So, I can say the way that they submit that, we don't get a copy, but I'm sure we can put together what we put down. As far as the status of where that submission is, we are waiting to hear back from them on basically, they we put in for here's everything under the sun we could ever ask for, and then we have to wait to hear back from them on here's what we can offer you. And then we look at that, and we go, okay. Based upon our actual budget, what of these things do we find most important to put our dollars toward? So we can definitely go over that next time.

That will be March. So I think we might be at a point where we would have some more information on what Jamie, I don't know how much you know about the New Mexico true side of things, but what the timeline looks like and if we might have confirmed by then what we actually are getting with our grant funding. Do do you recall the timeline?

Don't recall the timeline off the top of my head, but I will double check into it, and we'll we'll make sure that we we include some information on that in our next report as well. Awesome.

Yeah. Great. Thank you, Jamie.

Absolutely.

Alright. Does anyone else have anything they'd like to see for the March meeting? No? Alright. The March meeting you can see is March 18 at 12PM, noon here.

If you do have things you want added to that agenda, it sounds like we'll have a full agenda, but, I mean, certainly get those to Ellen two weeks in advance of that meeting so that she can go ahead and get that agenda published in out to the public in a timely manner. If we have nothing else, I will adjourn the meeting. Alright. Can I just adjourn it, or do I have to get a second? I'll second that. Alright. You Alright. So we adjourn